Cold ferment - best buy wine cooler

[barryvabeach]

I have been trying a number of different methods of pizza making, mostly 100% whole wheat, but have had some difficulty with the long cold ferment, mostly because my fridge is pretty cold. ( making it warmer isn't an option )  I was looking at Best Buy the other day and they have an 8 bottle wine cooler by Fridigaire on sale for about $70 -  it has a digital thermometer - and can be set from the low 40's to 65.  It has a dual glass door, and a light that can be turned on from the outside.  Racks slide out and there is plenty of room for a couple plastic tubs of dough.  I just got one earlier today and it seems to work fine, wanted to pass this on in case anyone was interested - normal price is $100.  I thought $70 was pretty fair for digital control, and a fairly small footprint ( I put it in the garage ). 

[Bill/SFNM]

Does it cool via a Peltier stage? If so, you may have difficulty cooling the interior more than 10-15 degrees below ambient. My garage can get into the 90's during the summer so the 2 Peltier units I have are pretty useless when I want to ferment @60-65F.

[barryvabeach]

Bill, I just set it for a lower temp about an hour ago - it is 57 in the cooler and the ambient temp in the garage is 77.  I will check tonight to see if it went any lower.

[barryvabeach]

Bill,  Luck, not sure if it was good or bad, was on my side.  It was 100 today - about 85 degrees in the garage, and the coolest it seemed to get was about 58 - though I haven't read the instructions, and may not have set it right - but I think it can do between 25 and 30 below ambient.  I brought it in the house and will try it there.